April 8, 2012

Axel celebrates a successful climb atop Rock Creek Falls in the Beartooth Mountains, outside of Red Lodge, Montana. Captured with a Canon 7D and 70-200/2.8L IS II + 1.4TC III in aperture priority mode with an exposure bias of + 5/3 at ISO400, f/5.6, and 1/200th of a second. The camera was handheld.

Work sent me on an ice climbing trip to Rock Creek Falls in the Beartooth Mountains, outside of Red Lodge, Montana. They sent me to photograph a student, climber, for an upcoming magazine feature...I really do have a great life/job.

For photographers the problem with photographing climbing trips is that you have to both climb and shoot...that means that you are carrying both climbing gear and all of your needed gear to shoot the climb. I chose to suffer under a heavy load to bring with me the gear to shoot both portraits and the action of climbing. If my 5DIII had come in at the time I might have decided to pack a little lighter, and thus the approach and climb would have been much easier. I ended up using everything from 17mm on a 5DII to a 400mm on a 7D.

Having more experience than many of the student climbers let me haul a heavy load around with more ease than the student climbers who were carrying little to no gear, some of the leaders had heavy loads too, and the approach killed them :)

I hope to tag along next year with the ability to shoot, for the sake of shooting, rather than shooting with a specific feature in mind...next year.

Make the jump to go through the online gallery, I ask that you leave comments/criticism or at least give your favorites a thumbs up...Thanks!

If you have questions, ask. I published the camera information with each image and have added full keywords to share just about anything you would want to know about the images.

Dave is the Director of Communications for Volunteers of America - Northern Rockies. Raised in the western suburbs of Chicago, IL, he moved to the west when he was 20-years-old, and he “is never looking back.” Dave has two passions, one for the outdoors and one for photography. To this end, he spends much of his time in the ecosystems in and around Yellowstone National Park. This gives him a perspective on the wildlife and the ecosystem that few have. Dave is also an adjunct faculty member at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT, where he teaches middle- and upper-division photography courses. Working as photographer, Dave’s assignments include everything from commercial work and journalism, to wildlife and landscape photography. His extensive time in the field shows through in online galleries which are loaded with images of the fragile places he travels to. His work can be viewed at www.DaveShumway.com.